Grace

It is winter here in Lima, Peru and I have been here for a month.  I am so thankful to the Lord that I was able to come for Alonso's birthday, and be here with his family as it's been now almost 9 months since he's gone home to be with the Lord. 

   Vanessa my very good friend has asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding which is about 3 weeks.  Also my friend Darci is getting married this coming Friday.

   Please join with me in prayer, as the Lord appears to be opening doors for me to stay here in Lima for longer.  Please pray with me for the Lord's perfect will.

 

 

Well...so I thought that we would be going to the Zoo tomorrow.  But we aren't going to be going there because they didn't end up giving us the discount.  Which initially I was prretty bummed about. 

   But the Lord took complete control of everything and provided a new location about an hour outside of Lima where a student of mine helps maintain an orpahanage retreat center.  I asked her if we would be able to use that location since no one is there this weekend and she said YES! 

 It has a pool and grass and a basketball court and large barb-b-que.  We are going to be playing tug of war and having potato sack races tons of games like that.  But most importantly we are going to be sharing the love of Jesus with the numerous non-believers that are going to be coming. 

  We are going to have a time of worship and prayer...I know that the Lord is going to do amazing things.  Please keep it all in your prayers. 

 Thanks so so much...together we are reaching our world for Christ....

 Grace

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;
For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You. Psalm 9:10

I can not even begin to describe what a blessing this month has been, but I will try. 

A little background….My parents were divorced when I was about 3 years old. My mother has been an absolutely amazing example to me of a Godly woman. She raised me with a strong foundation in the Lord and for that I am eternally grateful.

During my time here a Peruvian family has befriended me and it has been such a blessing to spend special occasions with them…Christmas, my birthday, their birthdays, New Years, Easter. Well it just so happens that this last week was the parents 30th wedding anniversary, so all their children and I planned a surprise for them. We took them out to Friday’s for dinner and then got them a hotel room for the night. They weren’t believers when they got married, and they’d never spent the night at a nice hotel. We decorated the room and they were so surprised! Pedro even carried Juanita over the threshold. I never got to do these kinds of things for my parents, and this family wouldn’t have had the resources to do this themselves. I know that they were blessed and so was God’s heart in seeing 30 years of faithfulness and obedience. So thank you for being a part of that special day!

English classes: As of this date we only have two more weeks of English classes until the end of this semester. I have seen the Lord’s hand in this program since its foundation. People are getting saved and growing closer to the Lord.

It is difficult to leave something that I love so much, but I know that this is God’s timing as He has raised up another director of the school. Rachel will be taking my position and teaching 3-4 classes, also another American missionary named Natalie will be teaching a class and the Lord is still raising up national bilingual Peruvians that would like to be part of this ministry.

With all of that said and done I will still miss each and everyone of my students, some I have spent more than 180 hours with so we are all very close. The Lord has done more than let me be an English teacher he has made these classes into families and friends.

Last night I threw a costume party for all the English students and Bible college students. It was a great success. There were about 50-60 people here. I took all my furniture out of my room and everyone was dancing together. It was beautiful to see the interaction and fellowship shared in the body of Christ.

The end of the semester party for the students at the Zoo is next weekend!! Please pray as many of them will be bringing unsaved friends and family and this will give us an opportunity to reach out to them and show them the love of God.

Returning to the mission field…I will be going to another mission field called Bullhead City, Arizona in three and a half weeks. There is so much that the Lord has put on my heart to do there. Please join me in prayer as I would like to reach out to the Latino population in my town. There is a huge barrier in our city dividing it racially through language, culture and economic status.

During this next year please pray about continuing to support me as a native missionary to my own home town. I will be entering a new culture once again as I face re-entry shock into American culture and reaching out to the huge Mexican population with the love of Jesus Christ


Thank you so much for all of your prayers and faithful support. I would love to come and visit each and every one of you. I will be creating a video and power point to share what the Lord’s been doing here.

Please pray for the Lords provision as there is a $100 tax when I leave Peru, also the airline that I am flying home with has a charge of $100 for my third piece of luggage. I still have 3.5 weeks here and there is a lot to do and a lot more that the Lord wants to do!

Thank you, I love you all so much and am looking forward to seeing you!!

En Cristo, Grace

This week has been so amazing!  Thank you so much for your prayers as I can see God answering them everyday!

First off...My dear friend Mrs. Bratt donated enough money so that We'll be able to have a party at the Zoo at the end of the semester for all the students! 

Secondly-The Lord provided a vechicle for me when I get back to Bullhead

Thirdly-A dear Childhood friend contacted me and she is now seeking the Lord.  Please keep her in your prayers her name is Jenny.

Fouthly-I was able to witness to a girl in the market.  I shared the entire gospel with her, and she is going to, Lord willing, come to church tonight. 

Fiftly- I bought my plane ticket home I will be leaving on April 30th and getting to Bullhead the evening of May 1st. 

This week the Lord has also taught me not to take things that have been entrusted to me not so seriously, not to make them "my own" 

For almost the entire time that i have been serving here I have been making breakfast at the bible college.  We only have an hour to make it for like 30 people...so it is a little stressful.  We also don't just make breakfast, but a huge fruit salad and we have been making smoothies.  Well this last week the person that is in charge of the students hours in the kitchen told me that He changed everything there will be no more smoothies and he changed the menu.  Amazingly I was kind of okay.  A couple of weeks ago I would have gotten really upset, but the Lord is helping me showing me that I am just a servant it's not my place or right to get upset about things as I am just in His service. 

  Well that's what the Lord is teaching me... if you want to contact me my e-mail is gracehensley@hotmail.com.  If you are interested in supporting this ministry please go to www.sgwm.com under Latin America there you'll see a missionaries tab I am there.  You can click on my picture and see what's going on here and donate if you'd like to.

I went to the beach today with some friends that are also missionaries here they are teachers at the International Christian School. 

  We drove through the McDonalds and grabbed some lunch...so funny to do that here...then about a 45 minute drive and we were there.  We also went with a missionary family who have 4 children, who are all white with blond hair...they said the funniest things...like

I know why m&m's are called m&m's..."why" I asked?  To which he said,"because when you eat them you go mmmm..mmmm..."  Hehehe...It was cute. 

  Then when we were coming back a song from Phantom of the Opera came on and he asked ..."Is this Ket Green?"  we all laughed....It was so nice to spend time with kids and just soak up their pure joy of the sun and the ocean...being all covered in dirt but loving it!

    Then i went to the Believer's night which is a bilingual service every Sunday night here....it was nice we watched the movie, "The end of the spear"  because the boy in that movie..Steve...He's going to come to the church here next Sunday night and personally share with us.  That's really neat I am looking forward to that.

    Please keep this coming week in your prayers...that the classes will go smoothly and that many students will be ministered to through the Word. 

   God bless you!~

En Cristo, Grace

Well my alarm might have gone off this morning, but if it did I didn't hear it.  I woke up at 7:00!  I am supposed to be at the Bible college at the latest 6:45 every morning, and it was 7:00.

  So I got all of my things together put my hair up and caught a taxi to the bible college...3 soles.  *smiles*  Only 1 dollar.  Still it would be better if i got up early and walked.  I wish i was more of a morning person. 

  Just as I was getting here so were the figs.  So that worked out really well because I made fig and plum juice this morning.  Everything got out to the breakfast table pretty much on time which was a blessing. 

   Then I got everything ready for the classes...as it was Deb's first day teaching.  She is teaching the highest level of English classes that we offer, so it is quite intimidating because many times the people that you are teaching have studied more English grammar than you have.  We did the class together and got through it.  *grins* 

    There are a lot of people that are coming that don't go to the church and that aren't believers which is so great as that means that we will be sharing the love of Jesus with them for almost 5 hours a week, and they are there to learn. 

   I was busy running around making sure that everyone had everything that they needed.  It was and is a lot to do to administrate everything.  But I have to give all of the thanks to God because I have never gone to school for any administration classes or anything like that, but He has helped me and the school is growing and more people are coming and more teachers are interested in teaching so that means that I must be doing something right. 

   Tonight I had my level 1 B class.  I have been with these people for 6-7 months now as their teacher, and it is exciting to see how much they have learned and are able to understand now. 

   I also was able to talk to a couple students for about 30 minutes outside just chatting and I shared with them the vision that the Lord has given me to open up schools like this in different areas perhaps all over the world.  

   Please continue to keep all of this in your prayers...as I know that.....

  "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it;  Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain." Psalm 127:1

    There is so much that the Lord is doing here that is unseen and i couldn't even describe it to you if i wanted to, but just keep praying. 

   Goodnight....God bless!  Buenos Noches...Dios te Bendiga! 

In Christ, Grace

p.s.  If the Lord puts it on your heart to support me please go to www.sgwm.com and look for me under the Latin America tab.  Thank you. 

 

Okay...so only a week ago the 7 week English classes ended.  There was a week long break, and the classes are starting again tomorrow, March 3rd. 

  Last semester there were 3 teachers.  Llubitza was teaching 2 classes, Marysol was teaching 2 classes and I was teaching 5 classes. 

   The Lord called Llubitza to serve in a different ministry here at the Bible college....so that left only Marysol and I.  But God is so so good.  Because in only one week he provided 5 teachers!!  Don-an American Bible college student, he'll be teaching 1 class.  Deb, she has been a missionary here in Peru for alomost 2 years, she'll be teaching 1 class as well.  Alejandro is a Peruvian that is graduating this semester from the highest level of English that we offer.  He'll be teaching 1 class.  Marysol-this will be her third semester teaching she'll be teaching 3 classes.  Yesmi-she is also one of my students that is graduating this semester, she'll be teaching 1 class.  Lastly I will be teaching 3 classes.

 All together there are aver 100 students in the English school now!  What an amazing ministry!

   The Lord also blessed me with the opportuinty to start teaching the Bible college students that were interested in learning how to teach ESL.  There are about 8 students in that class. 

    Please continue to keep the students and teachers in your prayers. 

 *Also please pray for me as i will be going back to Arizona in 2 months to start an English School like i have here in Bullhead City.

 Prayer requests...

1.  That the Lord will greatly bless this semester and bring many people to Himself. 

2.  That He will provide reliable transportation for when I am back in the States

3.  That He will bless the rest of the time that I have here in Peru. 

4.  That He will prepare the hearts of the Latinos in Bullhead to receive the Gospel. 

 

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

December here in Peru was a very full month. The holiday season is just as rushed as it is in America. Although it is summer here in South America the stores are packed with Christmas trees, reindeers and Santas. They have very different Christmas traditions that I am used to.

I had the pleasure of being invited to spend Christmas with a Peruvian family from the church that I have become very close to. The tradition here is that they wait until midnight and open all the presents and have their huge meal with Turkey, potatoes, hot chocolate and panetone(a fruitcake bread, that absolutely everyone has for Christmas) During all of this there are so many fireworks going off that it sounded as if I was in the middle of a war zone. Even though everything was so different I was so thankful to experience this special time with them. For New Year’s Eve we had a big potluck at the Bible College Campus.

There were over 60 people and it was a great celebration we prayed and sang worship songs to bring in the new year. I have to tell you that I was a little sad even though there was celebration going on all around me. Almost all of the American Missionaries had left to go back home for the States so I was practically alone for the holidays and I missed my family very much. But I want to say thank you so much for your prayers and e-mails as they were a huge encouragement and the Christmas cards that you sent really blessed my heart. Thank you!

During the second half of December and all of the month of January the cook for the Bible College is on vacation. I love to cook and was given the opportunity to cook all of the meals for the 10-15 people that are on the campus everyday. I have learned so much. As there aren’t very many things that are packaged here mostly everything is fresh and you have to make it from scratch. So if you have any good recipes that you would like to share with me that would be awesome  I will be cooking all the meals until the end of January and then when the students come I will only be cooking breakfast.

Also the English classes just started this last week. There are about 90 students enrolled in the classes. Many more non-believers are coming so please pray that the Holy Spirit will minister to their hearts. Every class begins and ends with prayer and there are memory verses every week. I am not only having them memorize them but study them, as so many times we can repeat a verse by heart, but if someone were to ask you what does that verse mean, or how can I apply that to my life, we wouldn’t know how to respond. Something new that has started is a Conversation Club which is on Friday afternoons for 2 hours. This is an incredible platform for the students to use their English and practice how to share the gospel.

I have also moved off the Bible College campus. One of my students had an apartment that is right next to hers and was having it completely remodeled. She was asking the same price that I was paying to stay at the Bible College and it is fully furnished and only a 15 minute walk from the Bible College. I love it! I have been here for a week. I really enjoyed living at the Bible College, but there was always constant activity and at some points I felt as if I wasn’t even in Peru as there were always so many Americans around. But now I am living out in the community and have the opportunity to talk to and get to know the Peruvians here in my neighborhood. Please continue to pray for divine appointments.

Lastly this last weekend I went on the outreach to the park where we street witness to people and I met an older man named Peppy. He didn’t have a bible of his own but he wanted to know more about God and his heart was so open to the Gospel! I shared with him the truth of God’s love and gave him the bilingual bible that I had. I invited him to come to church and he came and even brought a friend. Please pray that he will continue to come and that the Lord will speak to his heart.

There is so much more that I could share with you about what the Lord is doing here... Your prayers are being answered. May God bless you and keep you…thank you for your support. En Cristo (In Christ) Grace

Dear Friends and Family…

 

 

   Thank you so much for your prayers over the last couple of days.  Peru is in an aftershock in everyway imaginable…

 

 

     It happened at about 6:40 pm on Wednesday, I was just finishing up my last English class of the day when the whole building started to shake.  I was thankfully on the bottom floor and so I walked out into the parking lot that is in the middle of the Bible College .   Everyone thought that it would quickly pass, but it just kept getting stronger.  Within a couple of seconds all of us were huddled together in the parking lot. 

 

 

 

     It was an awe inspiring experience to feel the very earth sway under our feet…like riding some sort of wave.  We all grabbed hands and started to pray…then there was a huge flash of light and all of the power went out. 

 

 

 

     We found a radio and heard that the earthquake had hit off the coast and the center was only ninety miles south of Lima .  We felt the earthquake for an entire two minutes.  And praise the Lord we only lost power and water for a day and a half.  But there wasn’t any damage to the Bible College .

 

 

    “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who trust in Him.”  Nahum 1:7

 

 

    There are several villages that were brutally hit and devastated by the earthquake, but haven’t been seen on the news.  One of these was the village called Canete.  Yesterday we had the opportunity to go and help the people of this village. 

 

      Their living situation without this terrible earthquake is far from “adequate”.  Their homes are made of sand blocks which crumble very easily, also very few of their homes have foundations, and therefore when shaken so fiercely just crumbled like a house of cards.  They are so poor though that they can’t afford anything better than this, and now what little they had is all gone. 

 

 

 

  All of the people are now camping out in the streets at night for fear of another aftershock bringing the walls of their houses crashing down upon them.  Remember that it is winter here in Peru , and therefore it is very, very cold at night and they don’t have adequate shelter or blankets. 

 

 

    We were able to bless several families with tents, and also help build up walls that had fallen down, and tear down walls that had been destroyed. 

 

 

 

    I was able to meet a woman and she asked me to come into her house.  She shared with me and we talked about the earthquake and how it has affected her and her family…she was very sweet and I was able to share how our foundation is in Christ alone. 

 

 

 

     We are going back to Canete Sunday after church, please pray that the Lord uses us once again to bless the people there and share with them the practical love of Jesus.  There is a lot of need here if you feel led to give I will use whatever is given bless these families.  

 

 

I will continue to keep you updated…if you would like to give go to  www.sgwm.com  you can find me under Latin America .

 

 

God bless you and keep you all!! 

 

 

Love Grace

 

 

 

I will continue to keep you updated…if you would like to give go to  www.sgwm.com  you can find me under Latin America . God bless you and keep you all!!  Love Grace

The road to Lima...

July 13th..I left Jerusalem at 2:30 in the morning...it was so hard to leave...i miss everything about it and everyone there that i had to leave behind..(sighs) 

   I got to the airport with my 3 large suitcases and carry on at about 3:45.  British Airlines didn't open until 3 hours before the flight which was scheduled to leave at 8:00 AM.  So i sat there next to my suitcases..and tried to get some rest.  5:00 AM I got into line, passport in hand. 

DELAYED...(sighs)  I was told it was going to be 2 hours late.  Well of course it was much longer, they had to change everyones flights, and of course since i was going half way across the world, i was last...I must have been there for like 4 hours.  So finally...they changed me to a Continental Airlines flight which was leaving at 6:00 PM to go to Miami, where i would be able to catch my original flight on to Peru.  Also there was a $150 fee because of my extra bag...because i purchased a missionary ticket i was allowed 3 bags with British, but the other airlines wouldn't recognize it. 

 DELAYED...the Continental flight was delayed as well a couple of hours and so i ended up getting to Miami 2 hours after my flight for Peru left.  British Airlines had transfered me to Lima Airlines instead of my original flight with American Airlines.  British Airways were the only ones that could change my ticket and they didn't open until 1:30 in the afternoon.  It was 4:30 AM.  (sighs)  So...I got my suitcases and waited...Then the Lord sent me an angel. 

  The nicest British Airways lady...i told her everything that had happened at she gave me a food voucher and told me to go to Lima Airways..she had changed the ticket so i would be on the next flight even though the flight was full and i was originally on standby she got me in there somehow.  Although i had to pay another $100 for my bags.  She even took those reciepts and gave me a credit card that had the $250 that i had spent on the bags.  She was really a blessing!  So finally almost 3 days of traveling i arrived to Lima, Peru.

   The people from the Bible College were there to greet me and take me to the college.  Praise the Lord! 

   So far I have been here a week, and this city is huge there are like 8 million people that live here.  I must say it is nice to be able to speak spanish and understand what is going on..but i have a lot to learn. 

    Last Sunday i stood up in front of the whole church and was able to tell them about the english classes that i would be teaching.  Over 80 people signed up to come and take the placement tests and as of today final count there are 98 people signed up for the classes. 

   I will be teaching Monday thru Thursday from 10:00am - 6:30 pm.  There are 5 different levels and i am teaching them all.  So if anyone reading this has a heart to come here to Peru and teach english with me and serve the Lord...pray about it and come.  *smiles* 

   Well that is life so far...ohh yeah i am Lord willing going with my roomate Darci to Iquitos which is near the amazon river and in the Jungle to minister to some small churches there and well to be honest i am not really sure what we will do but i am sure that the Lord will work that out.  So we're planning on leaving on the 29th and staying for about a week.  Pray that i don't get eaten by bugs, or have to eat anything to umm...well anything to strange. 

Gracias..

In Yeshua, Grace♥